The motorcycle officer was fired for conduct unbecoming an officer last week, after an
investigation by the patrol. That investigation revealed other troopers with him at Skully’s Music
Diner noticed he appeared to be drunk and unsuccessfully tried to prevent him from driving.

Garner’s blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.27 percent, more than three times the 0.08
percent level at which a driver is presumed to be drunk in Ohio.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges in Franklin County Municipal Court, and the case is
pending. Garner was off-duty and in his personal vehicle when he was arrested by Columbus
police.

A patrol investigation said that Garner and several other troopers and officers attended a
performance by a patrol sergeant’s band at Skully’s on the evening of Feb. 16. Several thought that
Garner was intoxicated, and another trooper volunteered to give him a ride home, according to
documents.

But Garner became “hostile” with the trooper who was to drive him home and apparently left and
got into his vehicle, the investigation found.

The Ohio State Troopers Association union unsuccessfully argued that Garner has no history of
on-the-job misconduct, is receiving help for alcohol abuse and should not be fired because he has
not yet been convicted of any crime in the incident.

A trooper since 2002, Garner also was convicted of drunken driving in Grove City in 2007. He
served three days of a largely suspended jail sentence and received a six-month driver’s-license
suspension.